The problems faced by metropolitan regions and their residents are well
known and have been the subject of substantial research as well as popular
discussion. However, in both urban and regional domains, much more attention
is paid to the nature of the problems themselves and of policies to address them
than to the effects that such policies might actually have. The consequence is
that policy deliberations and decisions are frequently based on the elegance of
policy design or (perhaps more frequently) the eloquence of policy advocates
rather than on solid empirical evidence. At the extreme, this leads to the creation
of urban and regional policy fads that are widely believed to be effective
approaches but that lack a solid evidentiary base.
To fill this gap and to assist policymakers in addressing important urban and
regional problems, the Brookings Institution, the George Washington University
Institute of Public Policy and the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and
Public Administration, and the Urban Institute held the first of a series of
annual conferences on Urban and Regional Policy and Its Effects at the Brookings
Institution in Washington, D.C., on March 29–30, 2007. Chapters were
commissioned for the conference from distinguished social scientists. The conference
sought to engage authors and discussants in a cross-disciplinary dialogue
focused on the central theme—evidence of policy effects. The chapters in this
volume are revised versions of those commissioned chapters.